The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England on reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities system, including strengthening joint workforce planning and local commissioning arrangements between education, health and care partners.

As part of this work, the department is delivering the Experts at Hand offer, which will provide schools and settings with access to expert advice and guidance to support the identification and meeting of a range of special educational needs, including dyslexia. The offer is intended to strengthen early identification and promote effective and inclusive practice across education settings.

The Government's current approach to promoting sunscreen use is part of the sun protection measures recommended to reduce exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. This aligns with the World Health Organization’s guidance, which is available at the following link:

https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-protecting-against-skin-cancer

The public health guidance is primarily through the National Health Service, the UK Health Security Agency, and the Met Office rather than through dedicated national sunscreen-awareness campaigns.

NHS England and other NHS organisations regularly share social media messages during periods of sunny weather to remind the public about the importance of sun safety and using sunscreen to protect against harmful UV exposure.

In June 2026, it took an average of 61 working days to process medical driving licence applications.

To keep up with growing customer demand and to offer a better service, the DVLA has launched a new casework system and a new digital medical services portal for customers. This new online service covers around 1,600 medical conditions and allows the majority of customers to apply online via the DVLA’s driver and vehicles account.

Further enhancements for customers applying for a provisional licence and those renewing at the age of 70 or over will be made later this summer.

The DVLA encourages customers to use the online service wherever possible to help speed up processing times but non-digital methods of application remain available for those who want to use them.

Insurance formed part of the safeguards attached to Certificates of Exemption, providing financial protection for dog owners in the event of an incident. No alternative third-party public liability insurance product is currently available for banned breed dogs following the withdrawal of the only provider. This was a commercial decision. The requirement has therefore been removed from 1 July 2026, to ensure otherwise compliant owners are not placed in breach of the law through no fault of their own.

Owners of exempted dogs must continue to meet all other conditions of their Certificate of Exemption, including keeping dogs muzzled and on a lead in public places, and remain legally responsible for any harm caused by their dogs.

The Government wants every child to have the best start in life, with help available earlier and locally when families need it. As set out in the King’s Speech, the Government is committed to raising standards in schools and introducing generational reform to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system. These reforms will be brought forward in legislation through the upcoming Education for All Bill.

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have worked closely with the Department for Education on the reforms. Continued close partnership between health, social care, and education will be needed to realise the opportunity created by these crucial reforms.

To supplement the student loans which are the main support for all students in England, the Department of Health and Social Care provides eligible healthcare students with a non-repayable grant of at least £5,000 per academic year via the NHS Learning Support Fund. Students undertaking priority specialisms such as mental health nursing and learning disability nursing can receive an additional incentive payment.

The Government is also investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce to support children and young people with SEND, including learning disability. This includes £26 million to train more educational psychologists and £15 million to enable more speech and language therapists to work in education settings.

Maintaining a secure and resilient energy system is a top priority for Government. We work continually with industry to improve and maintain the resilience and security of energy infrastructure, considering a range of evolving risks and hazards – including changing climate.

The National Energy System Operator, an independent technical body, delivers resilience functions, including understanding and planning system resilience.

Missed appointments, recorded as did not attends (DNAs), are collected through General Practice Appointment Data. Nationally, there were 1.27 million DNAs out of 31 million booked appointments, representing 4.1% of all appointments.

In Nottinghamshire, there were approximately 320,000 DNAs from 8.3 million booked appointments, the equivalent to 3.85% of appointments, which is below the national average. In Broxtowe, there were 21,450 DNAs out of 727,000 booked appointments, representing 3% of appointments, lower than both the Nottinghamshire and national rates.

NHS England currently advises that local National Health Service organisations and general practices make their own arrangements for preventing and dealing with missed appointments. Practices already proactively try to reduce rates of missed appointments by sending text message or email reminders, improving their processes for cancelling or rebooking via their online systems, and by providing flexibility in scheduling, for example by allowing last-minute changes from in-person appointments to remote sessions.

The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs) and may include creative therapies. We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

We will deliver the first ever Frailty and Dementia Modern Service Framework to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, which is expected this year.  The Frailty and Dementia Modern Service Framework will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia and will set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support.

The Government is committed to improving dementia care. That is why we have published the D100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool to help simplify best practice.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility found that the UK’s economy would decline by nearly 8% by the early 2070s, if the world warms by just below 3C this century, compared to a no climate change baseline.

That is why we are supporting SMEs to reduce costs, build resilience and access the benefits the net zero transition presents. This includes advice and guidance through the UK Business Climate Hub to help SMEs take action on their energy bills. The Willow Review found 67% of SMEs have seen reduced operational costs from taking action on sustainability.

The Government recognises the contribution of the longstanding and successful independent air ambulance charities model, which enables close partnership working with local National Health Service trusts to provide medical guidance, supplies, and training.

The Government continues to take action to support the charitable sector, which includes the increase in the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This reduces the impact on the sector from the increase in employer National Insurance contributions.

There are no current plans to provide further funding to the sector which operates through a successful charitable model.

The proportion of ILR applicants using either the Priority or Super Priority Service that receive decisions within their respective advertised timeframes up to Q1 2025 are available as part of the Migration Transparency Data release on GOV.UK. More recent data are currently unavailable due to continued development of the necessary data since the migration of casework systems but are expected to be included in the next publication.

The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of all medical doctors, physician assistants (PAs) and physician assistants in anaesthesia (PAAs), still legally known as physician associates and anaesthesia associates, practising in the United Kingdom. It sets and enforces the standards all doctors, PAs and PAAs must adhere to. The GMC is independent of Government, directly accountable to Parliament and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties.

Progression through all specialty training is outcomes-based, whether a doctor is Less Than Full Time (LTFT) or not. The Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans (COPMeD) Gold Guide states that ‘All postgraduate doctors in training, full-time or LTFT, need to meet the requirements for progression in training as set out in the relevant GMC-approved curriculum.’

However, the exposure and experiences needed to meet learning outcomes will likely take longer to achieve if training LTFT. Further detail can be found at the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and COPMeD. As such, when a doctor moves to LTFT, their Certificate of Completion of Training date would typically be recalculated and many of the royal colleges and statutory education bodies offer guidance around this, which is available at the following link:

https://lasepgmdesupport.hee.nhs.uk/support/solutions/articles/7000018651-recalculating-your-cct-date-when-applying-for-less-than-full-time-training

The Department has undertaken analysis through the UK Geothermal Platform and the “UK Geothermal Energy Review and Cost Estimations” (2025). The Platform provides national mapping of geothermal suitability and supports early-stage investment decisions. The Review finds that geothermal can provide reliable, low carbon heat and power, but projects typically involve high upfront capital costs and outcomes vary depending on local geology. Across the UK, including the Midlands and Broxtowe, there is potential for investment; however, viability depends on site-specific conditions and detailed feasibility assessments.

Turbines are largely made from non-hazardous materials such as steel and copper and around 85-90% of a turbine is recyclable. Industry is working to develop innovative ways of recycling or reusing the remaining percentage, such as by making cement.

The Government wants to expedite recycling research and has recently made grants available, including a £13 million funding round from the UKRI for “Research to advance UK recycling capabilities”, and is currently exploring wider enabling policy options to support the sector in embedding greater circularity throughout the lifecycle of wind assets.

Extending the length of time that wind turbines remain in operation is a commercial decision for individual developers and can depend on factors such as maintenance of the asset, cost and planning considerations.

However, government are supporting applications to extend operational life in the planning system through giving significant weight to the benefits of utilising an established site, making updates to planning policy documents and publishing a training document for Local Planning Authorities.

We know that to achieve net zero, we must look at how we can accelerate the potential of all low carbon technologies including geothermal.

The Government understands that geothermal can play a role in decarbonising heat particularly as a heat source for heat networks.

We provide support through the Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) for the construction and expansion of low-carbon heat networks including those that utilise deep or shallow geothermal heat.

There is a published service standard of 12 weeks for straightforward applications under the Hong Kong BN(O) Visa and Leave to Remain routes. For applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain the service standard for straightforward applications is 6 months. Priority services are also available for eligible applications.

The Home Office publishes data on performance against service standards in its quarterly immigration system statistics, available at: Visas, status and immigration data: October to December 2025. The most recent data on the Hong Kong BN(O) route covers Quarter 3 of 2025 and shows that 97.45% of straightforward standard visa applications and 98.89% of straightforward standard Leave to Remain applications were decided within 12 weeks. Performance on the Indefinite Leave to Remain route is not included in the published statistics for 2025, though the vast majority of these applications under the Hong Kong BN(O) route were not due to be received until 2026.

We are working to improve access to National Health Service dentistry, which will also benefit members of the Armed Forces community, including our respected veterans who have spent their careers defending our country.

We are also supporting more than 1,500 children in British military families overseas through our supervised toothbrushing programme.

Free NHS dental care is available to people who meet the following criteria:

• aged under 18 years old, or aged under 19 years old and in full-time education;

• pregnant or have had a baby in the previous 12 months;

• being treated in an NHS hospital and the treatment is carried out by the hospital dentist (patients may have to pay for any dentures or bridges);

• receiving low-income benefits, or aged under 20 years old and a dependant of someone receiving low-income benefits; and

• receiving War Pension Scheme payments, or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments and the treatment is for your accepted disability.

From April 2026, we began introducing a package of reforms to address some of the most pressing issues that dentists and dental teams have been experiencing. These reforms will prioritise those with the greatest need, shifting care away from clinically unnecessary check-ups.

We are committed to fundamentally reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability.

The ban on the supply of single-use vapes is enforced by Local Authority Trading Standards in England. To support their vital work, the Government has provided £10 million of funding to support Trading Standards officers across England. Where an individual is caught supplying single-use vapes, they are liable to receive a £200 fixed monetary penalty and may also receive other civil sanctions. If these sanctions are not complied with, the individual will be guilty of an offence and could be liable for an unlimited fine or imprisonment.

Trading Standards have powers which allow them to enter premises to inspect for single-use vapes. They will be able to make enquiries as needed; this includes searching premises and breaking open containers to inspect stock. Regulators will be able to remove vapes from the premises, either for the purpose of investigation or for disposal.